Traveler



March 1952 G. A. PETERSEN TRAVELER Filed June 2, 1950 INVENTOR. Gera /c/ 14. Fe fer/150m firm/1H Patented Mar. 25, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TRAVELER Gerald A. Petersen, San Francisco, Calif.

Application June 2, 1950, Serial No. 165,611

1 Claim.

- My invention relates to means for use particu-- larly in initially stringing or mounting electrical transmission wire and is particularly concerned with mechanism for use in connecting the transmission wire to its supporting insulators disposed normally upon supporting towers.

In the customary fashion of stringing wire, insulators are suspended from towers and at the bottom of each of the insulators, a ball and socket connection is provided. A fastener, in the nature of a clevis, for gripping and supporting the wire is secured to the insulators with the wire appropriately clamped in place. Wires of the same electrical capacity, if made of different materials often have different diameters. It is ofteninecessary for this and other reasons to string wire of various different diameters. The initial connection of the wire to the support takes place normally near the top of a tower a long distance'from the ground and in a difficult location for workmen to operate. Furthermore, the work often takes place during inclement weather and it is therefore generally advisable to make the equipment for use under such circumstances as-easy to operate and as simple and as light as possible.

:It is therefore an object of my invention to provide an improved mechanism for use in assisting in stringing wire.

A further object of my invention is to provide a traveler for use in supporting and holding wire temporarily while it is being strung and for assisting in transferring the wire to its permanent support.

Another, object of the invention is to provide a-traveler effective for use with wires of various different sizes and especially of various diameters.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a traveler which can readily be manipulated by av workman under inclement conditions and at a location far from the ground.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a traveler which operates effectively with standard auxiliary equipment now almost universally in use. I

. A still further object of the invention is to proride a generally improved traveler.

Other objects, together with the foregoing, are attained in the embodiment of the invention described in the accompanying description and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a traveler constructed in accordance with my invention, some of the variant positions of the wire and of its supporting mechanism being shown in dotted lines and portions of the figure being broken away to reduce its size.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the structure illustrated in Figure 1, a portion being broken away to show the pulley in cross section on a diametrical plane.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail of the lower end of an insulator with the wire and its supporting hardware in final position.

While the traveler of my invention is suscepti'ble to numerous variations depending upon the particular nature of its use and depending also upon the environment in which it is normally utilized, it has successfully been embodied in the form shown in the accompanying drawing. In this form, the traveler is for use in connection with an insulator 6 normally at the lower end of an insulator string and depending from a tower, not shown. The insulator string normally ends in a piece of standard hardware 1 including a reduced shank 8 and an enlarged, flattened, somewhat spherical head or ball 9. The usual wire support (Figure 3) includes a socket ll having an opening I2 along one side thereof so that the socket can slip or fit over the head 9. When the socket is in engaged position, it is held against accidental dislodgement by a cotter pin I3 passed through appropriate apertures in the socket H and in the head 8. The hardware H has a .depending portion M formed with a cross bore it therein.

In its ultimate use, the bore I6 is designed to receive a fastening pin II for connecting it to a support body IS. The usual form of body H3 includes a pair of apertured side ears l9 and a central channel 2| in which the wire 22 is disposed. Clamp bolts 23 and 24 engage the body l8 appropriately and overlie the wire 22-, being fastened by nuts 26 so that the wire 22 is firmly held in place after it has been brought into position.

In order to get the wire 22 into its final position, I provide a traveler as especially shown in Figures 1 and 2. This device includes a pulley 3| preferably cast of metal such as iron or, even better, a light metal such as aluminumor magnesium. The pulle has a deeply indented, pe"- ripheral groove 32 of appropriate contour to receive a wire 22 of any of the customarily encountered diameters as illustrated by the solid lines 33 in Figures 1 and 2 and by the broken lines 34 in Figure 2. The pulley 3| likewise includes a central hub 36 having appropriate bearings and designed to receive a through axle 31 extendin sufficiently far to receive fastening nuts 38 and 39.

Spanning the central hub and overlying the sides of the pulley 3| is a pair of frame straps 4| and 42. These are identical so that a description of one applies equally to the other. Each of the straps 4| and 42 has a pair of central apertures 43 and 44 therein of a size removably to receive the axle 31 in either aperture alternatively. In addition to the two central or inboard apertures 43 and 44, each of the straps is similarly provided with a pair of outboard apertures 48 and 49 adjacent the ends thereof. The outboard apertures are spaced at different radial distances from the inboard apertures. The lowermost aperture 49 removably receives a spacer bolt This includes not only the customary bolt body 52 and nut 53 but likewise includes sleeve '54 so that the spacing of the frame straps 4| and 42 is established. Since the axle 31 likewise establishes the distance of the frame straps, they are held in approximate parallelism.

At the other end, the remaining outboard apertures 48 receive a removable pin 56 having a taper 5! at one end to facilitate its insertion through the apertures 48 and especially through the bore IS. The pin 56 is provided at its opposite end with a loop 58 with which a flexible chain 58 is engaged. A removable eye 60 is anchored to the side strap 4| through one of two apertures 6|. The chain is fastened to the eye 60 and sufiicient length is provided to permit ready withdrawal of the bolt pin 56. In order to hold the pin 56 normally in position, I provide a resilient washer 62 preferably of rubber or other inexpensive material in frictional engagement with the pin body.

In the customary use of the device, the insulator string 6 is in normal position with the hardware 1 depending therefrom. While the traveler is on the ground, the wire 22 or 33 is looped over it in slack condition and the clevis or socket is attached to the traveler frame straps by positioning of the pin 56 and the washer 62as shown especially in Figures 1 and 2. In any appropriate fashion the traveler and the wire, while still slack, are hoisted to the insulator string 6 and the socket H is positioned over the hardware ball 1 and the cotter pin I3 is put in position. By a draft means (not shown) the wire, having been similarly strung by a number of comparable travelers on several adjacent insulators, is finally tightened to final position as shown in full lines Figure'l. It is then at an appropriate elevation for final securing.

At this time the height of the wire 33 is exact ly at its finished location, taking into account thewire diameter and the mounting, |8 (Figure 3) by which it is ultimately to be supported. By

the simple removal of the washer 62, either as a separate operation or by abrupt removal of the pin 56, the workman can detach the traveler from the depending hardware member I4. When the pin 56 is withdrawn, the washer 62 may be retained by the workman or, if he has not sufficient facility to do that, or the conditions of work are adverse, hesimply drops the washer 62 to the ground and it canbe recovered or discarded. In any event, after thepin 56 has been pulled directly or by tension on the chain 59, the entire traveler is removed. There is substituted for the traveler a hanger [9 which, as shown in Figure 1, has its apertures in register or in line with the Subsequently, the clips 4 tightened to final condition. The traveler having been lowered, is supplied with a new washer- 62 and is fastened to a new support l4 and is ready to be utilized in a subsequent installation.

For different size wire the side frame straps can be differently organized. That is, after the nuts 38 and 39 have been loosened and the bolt 52 has been withdrawn, the pulley 3| can be mounted alternatively in the apertures 43 thereby spacing it considerably farther from the apertures 48 to accommodate for a larger and lower permanent support I9. This is important since when the wire 33 is being installed, once it has been tensioned it cannot readily be lifted from a low support in the traveler to a high support bracket 2| although it is feasible to drop the wire slightly from a higher ,pulley support to a lower, final support position. By reversing the position of the pulley in the central or inboard apertures, different wire and hardware sizes can be used.

Additionally, by interchanging the spacer bolt 5| and the pin 56, there is provided another variation in spacing between the support l4 and the peripheral groove in the pulley. Considering all the variations, there is provided a traveler which has readily available four different positions, a traveler which is easily assembled on the ground with its appropriate hardware, is almost instantly detachable from the hardware while in the air, even under adverse conditions, a traveler effective to hold wire while tensioned at such an elevation that the wire can betransferred at an even level or with a slight drop to its perinanent support, and a traveler that is light and readily handled by a workman in the field to accommodate all of the various conditions encountered.

What is claimed is:

A traveler comprising a pulley having a peripheral wire-engaging groove and a central hub, an axle extending through said hub and having projected ends, a pair of frame straps, each of said frame straps having a pair of inboard apertures therein for alternatively receiving said axle and having a pair of outboard apertures therein at different distances from said inboard apertures, a spacer boit adapted to be disposed alternatively in either one of said outboard apertures to engage said frame straps,

a pin adapted to be disposed alternatively in the other one of said outboard apertures to engage said frame straps, means for flexibly securing said pin to one of said frame straps, and a washer for frictionally retaining said pin in en'- gagement with said frame straps.

GERALD A. PETERSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record-in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 844,386 McCormick et al. Feb. 19,1907 1,347,211 Crosby July 20, 1920 1,424,075 Boykin July 25, 1922 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 200,766 Great Britain July 19, 1923 

